Rise and Fall of the Lich King's Champions
by Spartan Slayer123
Summary: The tale of the Knights of the Ebon Blade escaping the icy grasp of the Lich King. My first fanfic, please don't kill me. Prologues a bit philosophical, I promise the action will pick up though
1. Death isn't so bad

Darkness, eternal darkness. There have always been people who say that dying was the worst thing imaginable, people who attempt desperately to escape Death. The funny part was that those who most attempt to run away from Death were the ones most likely to run right into its doorstep. A smile began to creep over my lips, yet I had no awareness of it. Death wasn't a thing to be feared, nor was it something to pursue. Death was both paradise and torment.

Death, just like life, varied from person to person. Some pursued Death as an escape from the terrible nature of life, the terrible emotions, the terrible pain, and they were right. Death was quiet, it was serene, it was just you. Most feared death and seek to escape it, fear clouding their judgment. Poor fools, they're was no escape. Just like there was no escape from disease and age, no escape from love and hate. Others revered death as the entrance into some form of paradise, some form of life eternal, some form of a reward for the deeds you accomplished in life.

I was the latter. I trusted in the Holy Light to shine through the darkness of Death, to show me the way to eternal paradise. But the longer I sat here in eternal solitude, the longer I waited, the more I thought. Why? Why would some Light shine in me. Why had I blindly followed the Light my life? What good has that done me? It just left me alone, cold, scared, bloody, beaten, scarred. Was there really a Light? Has it abandoned me? Had I followed it to my death? Was it really benevolent in nature?

The ironic part was, that after years of helping others, years of serving some power, years of praying, years of fighting, years of killing, years of pain, this really was dark, silent depths before what I believed were my eyes were relaxing. There was no more worry, no more fear, no more kindness, this was truly paradise. A time to think, a time to relax, a time to philosophy, a time to reflect back on my life.

My life... my life... fear coursed through me. I couldn't remember my life! I couldn't remember my experiences, my acts, my family. The only thing that I could really concentrate on was some rapidly fading hope that some benevolent being would reach out of the darkness, grasp what remained of my form, and thrust me out of this endless solitude. I had forgotten my parents, my loves, my fears, my friends, my enemies, the things I did, the thing I hoped to do, I had forgotten everything. I had even forgotten...

_A hero; that's what you once were._

A voice called out, like a distance echo. It bounced off the vast and expansive darkness I was in, reaching my ears in a serene manner. A hero? It spoke of a hero. It spoke as if I was a hero. I scoffed in a childlike manner, laughing a voice-less laugh. The solitude was eating at my mind and my sanity. Soon the thought sank in, the darkness was eliminating who I was. First my memories, then my faith, now my sanity. At this rate I shalt be not but a distant shadow, a memory, and soon not even that.

_You stood boldly against the Shadow and purchased another dawn for the world… with your life._

The voice returned, louder than before. It was talking of my life, of who I was. I felt overjoyed to hear that I could regain some sense of who I was, that I wouldn't be a memory like I expected. But there were more questions the arose. What was this Shadow? Was he speaking of the darkness of Death? In exchange for giving life a new Light I was thrust into Death? Why would I pay for doing something nice? Why should I suffer for aiding others?! That wasn't fair! Nothing was fair! I quickly caught myself, surprised at the inward outburst of anger. The Light had demanded patience, so why was I getting so worked up?

_But the evil you fought is not so easily banished; the victory you claimed, not so easily held, for now, the Specter of Death looms above the world yet again and it has found new champions to bring about its final reign._

Now confusion followed in the stream of random emotions. the Specter of Death? What was it? What did the voice mean by that it was returning? What did it mean by champions bringing about the end of the world? Who were these champions that could bring down civilizations and life?

_Knights of darkness wielding runes of death and destruction, bound by the will of the Lich King. This is the hour of their ascension; this is the hour of your dark rebirth._

At that moment a searing blue light emerged out of the darkness. It was frozen, its power felt through the vast darkness, freezing what remained of my mind. My mind grew weak, pain throbbing through it. A deep buzzing noise entered my mind, a slight tingle at first, but it quickly grew and resonated, pain bouncing within the confines of my head. The pain kept growing as if it would explode.

"No!" I heard my voice shout for the first time in what felt like a millennium, despair and fear evident. The pure sound of my voice clashed with the stubborn buzzing in the head. As my desperation grew a slight warmth rose from within the confines of my chest. A slight flicker at first, it grew and coursed through me, sliding in and out of the cold. The warmth it provided me grew until it surrounded my body, stubbornly fighting the freezing cold that enveloped me, refusing to succumb to its presence. I looked down through the cold blue light towards the source of the warmth in my chest.

It was a dark-red liquid pouring out of my left-most chest cavity. It circled through me fighting the cold, providing me with warmth and beating back the cold light. As it pulsed I felt my power regaining, I felt hands and feet, not just memories of them but the physical thing. As power coursed through my body I slowly realized that the red, warm liquid was blood! Blood, something the living take for granted and the dead pray for. Blood fought against the Frost of the light, the two entities growing and pushing the other back inch-by-inch.

It seemed as if my blood was about to win the duel when the buzzing in my head increased tenfold and the blue light made a final push through the defenses of the red aura, enveloped my body, and then there was darkness yet again.


	2. Welcome to the Brotherhood

Pain wracked through my body, causing it to suddenly bolt upright. The pain was terrible, as if I was dying all over again. There was a terrible seeping gouge across my right eye, blood seeping from the wound, working its way through my cleansed eye-lids and dripping into my empty eye socket. There was a deep slash across my chest, a slash that nearly cut my in half. It exposed all of the intricacies of my innards to the outside air, blood seeping freely through it. What remained of my heart was working frantically to pump blood to my recently restored body, even though the liquid was only just gonna flood out of the cut veins and arteries. There was also a slight cut in the back of my head, but that wound was palpable to the intense pain that I was feeling.

"Wow, those ghouls sure are savage, aren't they?" I heard a soft whispering voice speak. It entered what remained of my ears and I could just barely make it out. "But after what you had done, I don't blame them for... ensuring they're victory." The voice said with a slight chuckle as I felt it stare down at me. I opened my left eye slightly to see that I was in a vast pool of blood, old men circling me. They were whispering some sort of incantation, words that I neither knew nor cared to find out. I looked at the men, looking for some indication as to who had had spoken to me. They offered none.

The men were concentrating greatly, signs of exhaustion visible across their face. They all held their hands out, green energy pulsing freely out of them at each other. The energy's intersected right over my body and slowly formed into a small ball of power. "Lungs were collapsed, heart overworked, liver pierced, ears nearly bitten off, right eye gorged out, and multiple other wounds. Those savages do the job done however." The voice spoke again indifferent to the sorcerers chanting or my suffering. My eye looked around desperately attempting to find the source of the voice. "Do you want to live? Or should I put you out of your misery?"

My heart started pumping even more frantically, as the seriousness of my wounds sank in and the threat of death coursed freely. The sudden outburst caused blood to erupt of my mouth, coursing down my already red wet face. The ball of power kept on growing in size and power, the sorcerers putting in more and more power to keep it expanding. I attempted to move my head to look for the source of the voice once more when a sharp gasping pain in my neck caught me. My neck was slit! Blood gurgled out of my throat, and the sorcerers increased their casting as if in response to my predicament. "Help me..." was all I could say from my cut windpipe when sharp laughter arose and, once again, darkness enveloped me.

********************************************************

My eyes opened dozily, struggling against the light of the sun. For a few seconds I stared at the sun, relaxing as clouds passed before. Sense hit me suddenly and I jumped to my feet as fast as I could. I instinctively took a battle stance, a stance that I did not remember but instead felt. My eyes quickly looked around, adjusting instantly to the light and dampness of my surroundings. I was standing a what looked like a V-shaped balcony, dotted with blue candles at the edge. There seemed to be a storm brewing as my ears picked up large sounds that sounded reminiscent to thunder. I looked down at my body, and, to my surprise, I was decked out in full plate battle armor. "What is happening to me?"

A dark laughter caught me and I quickly turn around to the origins of the voice. There was a tall figure, barely taller than me, covered in full battle armor. His armor was of, noticeably, better quality than mine. His helmet was shaped similarly to a crown, and it hid his face completely from view. The only visible sign on his face were glowing blue flames emanating from where his eyes should have been. He held a sword in his right hand. A majestic, grand jagged blade that looked slightly like a bastard sword if it weren't for the runes inscribed down its blade with a blue stone in the center. The guard had two protruding blades curved inwardly, a leather hilt and the design of a ram's skull on it. I looked into the ram's head with interest until its eyes glowed a fiery blue power causing me to just back.

"All that I am: anger, cruelty, vengeance - I bestow upon you, Saeneas, my chosen knight. I have granted you immortality so that you may herald in a new, dark age for the Scourge. Gaze now upon the lands below us." As he instructed I unconsciously look down the balcony when I noticed the true majesty of my location. I was floating above ground in a majestic citadel over what looked similar to a desert... or a graveyard. There were people on the ground, humans mostly but other races also, fighting what looked like undead monsters. "The Scarlet Crusade scurries to undo my work, while Light's Hope stands defiantly against us - a blemish upon these Plaguelands. They must all be shown the price of their defiance." At that I looked back upon the great figure, "You will become my force of retribution. Where you tread, doom will follow. Go now and claim your destiny, death knight."

I bowed before the figure almost instinctively and was about to walk right pass him when I noticed that around my feet, lined up, were several other corpses. Mostly consisting of humans, dwarves, draenei, and blood elves but there were other races. To my surprise there were even undead corpses on the floor. I heard a guttural growl from the great being, a sign of impatience. I bowed once again and quickly left the balcony entering the citadel.

As I walked through the citadel I noticed that almost everyone inside the building was clothed identically to me. I stopped in confusion wondering where I was, when I noticed that there was a pale man in shining blue armor beckoning to me. I awkwardly strode towards him, confused at what was happening. Along the way I noticed that most people were looking at me with looks of fear, disgust, and anger. They all had cold, blue flaming eyes but I still felt it as if they were spitting in my face. Eventually I reached the man in blue armor, he also looked upon me with anger but a more restrained kind. "Who was that man?" I asked hesitantly nodding towards the figure who brought me back into this world.

The man's expression changed from one of anger to that of hilarity in the blink of an eye as he laughed openly at my question. Even though I felt slightly insulted by the act I bit my tounge and waited for him to regather his composure and respond. "You have heard the call of the Lich King, death knight. Now is the time to answer your master." I nodded in fear thinking back to the way I acted in front of the Lich King. "Your training begins now! I am Instructor Razuvious, but yo shall call me Master, now listen closely. The single most important piece of equipment to a death knight is the runeblade. It is through the runeblade that a death knight commands the powers of frost, blood and the unholy. The runeblade also acts as a vessel to store the death knight's runic power." Razuvious grabbed his own rune blade from his back and held it out in front of him as if an example. He then pointed it towards a doorway."The time has come to create your first runeblade. Search the weapon racks on this floor and locate a Battle-worn Sword. Once found, take the sword to a nearby runeforge and use it to create a runeblade."

I nodded and left as Razuvious turned around to face some more incoming death knights that I didn't care much for. I went into the chamber that was pointed to me. I entered and looked around for at a weapon rack full of blades of different sizes and types. All of the blades looked like rusty hand-me-downs from a town militia and nowhere near the extravagant designs that Razuvious and the Lich King wielded. Annoyed, I reached forward and picked a broadsword and swung it around for a bit, getting a feel towards it.

Satisfied with the blade I sheathed it upon a scabbard that came with my armor and walked over towards what I thought was runeforge. It was a tall machine that stood almost four times my height. A large brass skull with its mouth open, with the forge itself inside its mouth, and flaming eyes adorned the front at my height with horns that curled around and up to the top of the device, where more skulls went around the circumference of the top. I put my sword into the skull's mouth, holding it with my right hand, and held my left just outside of the mouth. I closed my eyes trying to concentrate on a rune for my blade... but what did a rune look like? What was I supposed to be doing?

For a few minutes I just stood there looking like an idiot, glancing at the passing death knights as they entered, forged a rune into their blade using the same posture I was using, and left casually. I could feel frustration rising inside me as I felt disgust towards both myself and the fool Razuvious for not instructing me how to properly forge a rune. I closed my eyes as a way to relax and felt the blood coursing through my veins ease in intensity. Visions of ice pulsed inside my closed eyelids, visions or ice jutting out of the ground destroying anything in their way. Visions of men being skewered upon the sharp objects, their blood oozing down. "Razorice."  
I whispered and my blade pulsated in response, growling with power as energy coursed through it.

Once the vibrations ceased I strode back towards where I left Razuvious and found the old death knight still waiting there. A sarcastic smile played across his lips I strode towards him, "Well done Saeneas! You have succ-"

"Thanks for telling me how to make one, Old Man!" I spat in anger, cutting him off mid sentence. My grip on my freshly runed blade increased instinctively as I shouted the insult right in the instructor's face." What was the Lich King thinking when he entrusted such a useless inst-"

Razuvious face contorted into a sickening smile as he reached forward and grabbed my wrist, then pushed down with his thumb and index finger breaking my wrist with a sickening crack. Pain lanced through my arm and my grip on the runeblade lessened causing it to fall towards the ground. Razuvious grabbed the falling blade with a speed that didn't look anywhere near human and brought the blade's edge towards my neck, the sick smile then played across his face. "Watch your tongue, boy! It would be unfortunate if you died this close to your resurrection! If you were unable to create something as simple as a runeblade by yourself then you were useless to us anyway."

Razuvious dropped the blade that I spent so much of my time on to the ground as if it were a piece of trash, released my wrist, and then strode back towards his usual position as if nothing had happen. For my part I just stood there with my weapon at my feet and my wrist bent at an unnatural angle. "Remember these words, death knight," Razuvious began again, contained anger evident in his voice, "the Runeforge is a Scourge instrument. It exists only in Acherus, Naxxramas and the heart of Icecrown! You may only emblazon your weaponry at a Runeforge. Return often and emblazon all of your weapons. A death knight must be prepared for all that would dare oppose him! "

He reached into a bag on his belt and retrieved a key. "The endless hunger will soon take hold of you, death knight. When it does, you will feel pain immeasurable. There is only one remedy for the suffering: the hunger must be sated." As Razuvious spoke these words I suddenly collapsed, my tongue dry and pained as if I were dehydrated. I tried to draw some saliva to help withstand the terrible agony of what was happening. I felt my eyes go dry and sting, despite the icy flames that surrounded them. Razuvious held the key in front of me teasingly, like a child holds food to a starving beast; right in front of their face, but with no intent of giving them the satisfaction they crave. "I give you the key to your salvation."

The instructor reluctantly tossed the key at my feet, I just looked at it surprised and expectant of a trap. "Chained to the Heart of Acherus are those deemed unworthy of the dark brotherhood." Razuvious continued, indifferent to my suffering, but enjoying the suffering I was going through. "Use the key to free an unworthy initiate. Allow them to equip their gear and battle you for their freedom. Kill and the pain will cease. Fail and suffer for eternity." I quickly cracked my wrist back into its natural position, grabbed my runeblade, and scurried to the key grasping it like the first piece of food I had seen in months. "Live or die - the choice is yours to make." The elderly death knight whispered as I ran to the indicated location.

I stopped right at the entrance to the cell and regained whatever composure I could. I could not show weakness to the enemy, no matter the suffering. I entered the room as nonchalant as I could, with my blade in my hand. The room had prisoners of every race locked up except for, interestingly enough, blood elves. The prisoners were all stripped nearly naked and kneeling in some form of spell. I walked over to a kneeling orc locked up, he glanced at me for a split second with his blue orbs and then looked away. "Stand up!" I commanded, in a hurry, attempting to not show my pain to the unworthy creature. It just ignored me. "The wretched beast doesn't know Common? How pathetic!" I said, mocking him and noticing a slight buildup of tension in its shoulders. I seized the opportunity and poked it with my runeblade in the back, drawing black blood.

The orc rose up quick as lightning and reached out for my neck with a hand and a savage roar. Were it not for the spell bound chains floating around it I had little doubt that it would have torn my throat out with its bare hands. "So you do have some fight left within you after all? Very well you overgrown toad, I have the key to you salvation." I said hold the key that Razuvious gave me just like he did, "Its a fight to the death, you grab your gear and fight me. If you kill me, the Lich King will let you go free and give you another chance." I said tauntingly but the orc nodded nonetheless. I slowly reached forward and unlocked his shackles, my eyes on his hands the entire time.

Once the shackles fell around him the orc stood and strode to a rack of weapons and armor. He emerged in the same garb as me, except instead of having a runeblade, like mine, he just hefted a large single-headed axe that looked like it could cleave any there's one thing that I could remember about orcs was that they had a obsessed love for those large clumsy blades. The orc rose up to his full size, axe raised next to his head, and charged at me. "Lok'tar Ogar!"

The orc made a horizontal sweep for my waist to cleave me in half, but I jumped away from with surprising ease. The weight of the opening move left the orc slightly disoriented as it tried to regain its balance. I took the opportunity and charged forward with my blade, aiming a stab for its midsection. The beast used the momentum of its own swing to spin around my stab and swung diagonally at my shoulder blade. I let my legs collapse under me and fell forward into a roll. I rolled onto my feet and rose my blade in time to parry another blow for my neck. The bloody beasts were always obsessed with beheading. The orc swung for my waist, which I rolled but was kicked in the chest.

The kick pushed my own breastplate upon me, sending me flying halfway across the room past a pair of elves battling it out. I managed to roll the landing and quickly got back up on my feet, but the shock from the kick caused me to release my weapon which was next to the orc. Despite already wielding a large axe the orc used its mighty strength to heft my own blade in its left hand. With a deep laugh it charged towards me, a bloodthirsty roar emanating from its throat. It first swung its axe diagonally but I sidestepped the blow, yet was caught by surprise when my own blade was aiming to cut my legs off. I just managed to jump over the swing in my hefty armor and ran away from the orc the first opportunity I got. If I didn't get some distance I would have been cornered.

The foolish beast mistook the act for fear and charged after me. The orc was fast. Very fast. It was soon upon me, once I heard its footsteps however, I slid to a halt and braced myself for impact, my spiked shoulder pads aimed towards the creature. It ran right into my shoulder, eyes wide in shock, and spit blood as the spikes sunk into its stomach. I kicked its legs from right under it, and slammed the hefty monstrosity into the ground. Then, mirroring Razuvious' earlier technique, I snapped its left wrist, a sick thick crunching noise echoed from its wrist into my gauntlet, into my finger, and then resonated through my body. Without stopping I seized the runeblade that had slipped from its grasp and held it edge-first before the beasts eye.

The orc looked at the weapon, a look of terror played across its face, sweat beading down its face. Under normal circumstances I would have gone the way of the Light and spared the creatures life, but the pain of dehydration continued to plague me leaving me with little choice. The creature looked at me with pity but I was lost in the ecstasy of having it at my mercy, fear spilling from it, the choice to control who lived or die. This feeling was lost to me as a paladin, but not... now it described who I was, I was its personification. "Lok'tar Ogar!" I slowly moved the runeblade through the orcs fiery blue eye into its brain. Through my runeblade I felt a crunching defensive structure attempt to halt my blade but I kept pushing forward until the crunching was replaced by a strange squishing feeling. The orc was screaming terrible shouts of pain and suffering at me as I continued to probe its mind with my weapon. My mouth soon began to water as the ectasy of its suffering spread through my being. Eventually the orc stopped moving and I slammed the runeblade into what remained of its brain.

A sense of satisfaction swept through me and followed by relief as the great dehydration I had previously felt was quickly swept away under a sense of joy. I withdrew the blade from the poor beast and returned to Razuvious with my blade still dripping with blood and humming for more. The instructor looked down at the blade with curiosity. "I heard the orc's scream from here, Saeneas, scared a few of my recruits." He chuckled, "You are ready, Saeneas."

"Thank you... Master."


	3. It's Only Stalking if You're Caught

"Welcome to the Scourge, Saeneas." Razuvious said, slowly as if the very words caused him pain. He eyed me intently as if waiting for a response or a reaction, but I simply bowed my head in gratitude. "As a formal member of the Scourge and a servant of the Lich King, you shall be Death and Destruction to the living, leaving a trail of corpses in your wake. For your first assignment you are to report to a commander of the Scourge, Thalanor." Razuvious finished and made a nod to a nearby group of death knights.

I bowed my head once again and muttered, "Thank you... Master." The word still burnt in my throat, putting me upon the verge of cringing. It seemed as if my very soul was screaming in defiance of that word. From the corner of my eye I saw Razuvious raise an eyebrow in curiosity and quickly turnt around heading towards where he nodded his head. In my mind I was silently praying to the Lich King that Razuvious hasn't noticed my hesitation or my haste in leaving. Along the way I could still feel the distrust that the other knights were emanating so freely and heard whispers of curses in languages that I could not understand. Eventually I arrived upon the group of death knights and bowed my head, "I am looking for the Master Thalanor, commander of the Scourge."

"That would be I," a Blood Elf stepped forward. It had extravagantly long blond hair tied into a pony-tail and green eyes unlike the other knight's blue. The Elf was garbed in complete black, going against his fair skin, with large multilayer pauldrons that had blue skulls on it worn on his shoulders. "And," he continued, "You shall never call me Master." He stated with a smile. I quickly opened my mouth to apologize when he held up his hand, "It is perfectly alright. Razuvious thinks highly of himself since Kel'thuzad himself gave him the position of Instructor. He considers himself one of the 'Elite' and is grumpy to be stationed away from Naxxramas. You shall just call me Scourge Commander Thalanor." I was already beginning to like this knight.

"Now, behold, Acherus, the grand citadel of death!" Thalanor moved his arm in a circle pointing out all the tiny extremities in the citadel as he started to walk. I quickly followed in his footsteps and smiled inwardly as the other knights looked in jealousy that I was with such a high-ranking soldier so soon after my rebirth. "It has no equal in this world!" Thalanor continued, "Not even Razuvious' mighty Naxxramas could withstand a direct assault from the Ebon Hold. Looming above the face of the necropolis is the all-seeing eye of Acherus. From it the master is able to see great distances into the territories held by our enemies. What the eye sees, the Lich King sees, and now the time has come for you to peer through the eye!" Thalanor stopped outside of a doorway that led to the balcony I had just reemerged from. "The Lich King has called for you, Saeneas. Suffer well, brother."

With that, Thalanor left, his words still ringing in my ears. Brother? It felt like forever since I had been called that. A smile crept through my lips as a feeling of acceptance surged through me. With new, prideful steps I walked back onto the balcony where Thalanor had left me. The balcony was much the same it used to be, including the figure of the Lich King. The only difference was that the row of corpses that had lain on the floor at the time of my resurrection were now replaced by a large blue orb floating on a pedestal. The Lich King gazed at the orb, even as I approached him, "I have reported as you had requested, my lord." I said, kneeling before the large figure.

The Lich King turned to face me slowly, as if bored. "The time to spill the blood of our enemies approaches." He said slowly and I felt my runeblade on my back rumble with anticipation and my own mouth begin to water as the memory of the dead orc surged through me. "You must first learn what it is that you seek to destroy, before rushing headlong into battle. It is what separates a death knight from a mindless ghoul." The King turned back to the floating orb, holding his hand right on the verge of touching it. "I will grant you sight beyond sight, my champion. You will use the eye of Acherus to gather information on our agents."

I must have looked confused, and I was, for the Lich King growled with impatience. "Towering above this platform is the eye of Acherus. From it you will call forth a probe that you will then use to analyze Scarlet Crusade fortifications at New Avalon. The eye has a host of powers that should make the acquisition of this data simple." The Lich King spoke slowly, as one would to a simpleton. I merely nodded my head in understanding. "Use the eye's siphon to analyze the forge, town hall, hold, and chapel. The eye's control mechanisms are before you. Waste no more time, Saeneas! The Scourge will have this place. The Lich King commands it!" With that the King stepped aside allowing me access to the Eye's controls.

Without responding I instinctively leap forward and plunged myself into the orb. A glowing blue light surrounded me and I slowly felt my material body leave me, until eventually only my right eye remained. I slowly blinked my eye and looked around me. I was floating high above ground and could see the landscape around me, there were armored people dressed in red fighting hairless, decaying humanoid creatures that moved on four legs. The creatures, Ghouls, were losing the fight as the men and women were beating them back. I felt anger rise as the unworthy soldiers were destroying the great Lich King's army, and, to my surprise, more ghouls slowly came out of the ground and erupted forth from the corpses of the men and women who were slain by the ghouls.

Glee filled me as I watched the Scarlet soldiers slowly get annihilated by my new army and watched them look onwards for more prey. But a sense of urgency also filled me as I felt the Lich King's impatience rise. I quickly turned my attention from the conflict and levitated to the four corners of New Avalon. At all corners were men and women who were arming themselves and preparing for conflict, as they should. With my objective fulfilled I focused on withdrawing from the orb and, like previously, blue light enveloped me and unlike before I felt my material body and face return. I withdrew from the orb and turned around to find the Lich King's blue eyes gazing into my own shining orbs and quickly looked away.

"They prepare for battle - as expected - but there is something else. I sense an old enemy. An enemy that I destroyed long ago..." The King said, almost to himself, ignoring my disrespectful act. The strange part was that I hadn't even opened my mouth to give him my report... what sort of man was this? "It matters not. We will send the full might of the Scourge against them before they have a chance to evacuate their homes and put in place their defenses." I looked back at him enthusiastically as the hint of an approaching war fell upon my ears.

The Lich King looked at my eyes, his own radiating with power. "Listen well, death knight, for I give to you the words that will start a war. My final judgment has been passed: Death. To. All. None shall stand so boldly against the might of the Scourge without reprisal!" He began, his voice steadily rising. "As you have served me well in your first task, so too shall you serve me in your next task. Take my judgment to Highlord Mograine at the command post of Acherus, found on the first floor. Tell him to begin the assault." I bowed my head my mind already imagining the carnage that shalt soon ensue. "And when the Crusade has been dealt with, we will finish off the Argent Dawn." With that I jumped to my feet and ran to the command post, unaware of the true meaning and significance of the Lich King's command.

I ran past dozens of death knights on my trek down to the first floor and the command post. Yet, on the way, as I passed Thalanor, I imagined that he was wearing a smile of understanding, and that in itself reassured me. The preparations for war were already being made, "I swear, whether I have to cut through my own ranks, or demolish this citadel brick by brick, I shall be on the front lines." I whispered under my breath as I jumped the last few steps down to the first floor. I quickly ran up to a group of death knights who looked at me with a mixture of surprise and outrage for disrupting their meeting. "The Lich King has commanded me to bring his judgment to Highlord Mograine. He has said to begin to the assault and to bring death to all. That is his judgment!" I said in a hurry, slightly out of breath on the trek down here. Why have such a huge citadel anyways?

A large human on a red deathcharger stepped forward. "I am Mograine." He said proudly. He was coated in dark large armor with multiple carvings and engravings of skulls and acts of bloodshed coating his armor from helmet to boot. The most intimidating part of him, however, were his blue eyes which shown the brightest by far, second only to the Lich King. His blue flames bounced off the darkness of his armor, giving him a frightening appearance, even for a Death Knight. "The horns of war will soon echo across this land, waking the dead and calling forth the Scourge war machine. Woe unto those that would stand in our way!" He began, to both myself and his fellow commanders, "You will lead the charge, name. When I next look upon the Scarlet lands, my sights will be obscured by the legions of Acherus. The march upon New Avalon begins now." A large smile crept over my face as great joy rushed threw me. I was not just going to join the front lines, I was going to lead it!

The Highlord then turned to his gathered Death Knight commanders. "Armies of the Scourge, hear my call! The scarlet apocalypse has begun! Tear this land asunder and leave only death in your wake!" His voice boomed and echoed threw the large citadel. The call to arms was answered with a resounding battle cry that seemed to shake the very foundations of Archerus itself. Mograine then turned toward me and set his blue eyes upon me from his mount, "Scourge Commander Thalanor awaits your arrive at the overhang located directly southeast of our current position. Report to Thalanor and requisition a Scourge Gryphon to deliver you to Death's Breach." Mograine reached up to his neck and removed a dark-red necklace that shined like blood itself. He placed it into my hand and closed my palm. "Suffer well, brother!"

There was that word yet again; brother. Between the battle cry, the call to arms, my position of command, and being treated as an equal to the Highlord of the death knights my morale soared. All around me were the sound of preparations for war, sounds of men and women of all different races and species arming themselves for slaughter. Not to be outdone, I rushed towards the overhang that the Highlord mentioned, ignoring all exhaustion. I stopped before Thalanor who had a large, skeletal gryphon standing next to him. "I heard the cry, brother. The war has begun! I shall place you on my finest gryphon and deliver you to Death's Breach. Chaos, death, destruction! You will herald in all of this and more!"

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A/N: Although humiliating, I decided that I should get this clarified with right now. I have never owned or made a death knight myself, since my account froze at a lvl 52 pally and my parents don't wanna pay any money to unsuspend it. So all of the info I'm getting about deathknights are from imageshack, youtube, and wowwiki. So I apologize if things are a bit different than one would remember.

Also, another tidbit. The reason I wasn't able to upload in so long was becuz my internet was down, meaning I'm still a lvl 52 . hopefully I'll be able to improve on both now


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